Curse of Immortality
by Ryuketsu hime
Summary: A girl made a wish to stay alive after a car crash which should end her life. Her wish were granted but her soul was no longer in her body, instead it was in an orb that need to stay close with her. To make matter worse, her body shrink to that of 7 years old and she ended up in a world full of ninja. Can she survive?
1. Chapter 1 : The Mysterious Girl Part 1

Chapter 1 : Myterious Girl Part 1

First Person POV

I couldn't remember everything clearly. Everything happened so fast that it became a blur to my eyes. It was so fast to the point where I could only felt a dull pain on my chest, a throbbing on my head, and itchiness all over my body. I felt something warm on my head and some parts of my body, my limbs were useless and I could only move my eyes and turned my head a bit. I wonder what was the thing on top of me that made me unable to move.

A faint sound of siren was heard on the background. It blended with the voice of shoutings that surrounded me. Somehow, I felt really sleepy. I wanted to sleep, but the voices around me kept getting louder and louder. "That's the car! I found the car! Bring more personnel here, medics just in case! The car seemed worse, but let's hope that someone survive the car crash!" a voice, very clear and loud, shouted. And everything came back to me.

That's right. I was planning to go on a trip with my friends at the end of my highschool. I was allowed to bring my youngest sister along as long as she behave. She was so happy and almost forgot many things for the trip. My father promised to bring us to a department store when he had the time. Together with my mom, who came just to make sure we don't spend too much money on something useless, we left the house this morning.

Then it happened. The car crash. We were crossing an intersection when a truck came crashing at us. Because of the weight and size difference, our car was dented and uncontrolled. I hugged my sister tightly as I hold my ground inside the car. My mom was screaming, my father panicked, and my sister was crying. The surrounding changed fastly as our car collided with the safety fence around the valley and fell. I quickly changed my position so that I was the one under while my sister was on top of me.

I made a mistake though. The window of the car broke and the sharp pieces stabbed my sister's body and head. I tried to protect her, but in the end I made her experience a painful death. I couldn't see whether my parents survive or not, but I'm sure they're not in a good condition at all. As for me, I was laying under the corpse of my late sister and a few bags of thing we bought. The door was broken and gave my sister's body more weight and I couldn't move at all. My head was spinning, and I bet some of the broken window's pieces gave me some wound on the head and parts of my body.

My consciousness started to fade away. I guess this is the end of my life. Oh how I'd love another chance to live and be grateful for everything my families, friends, teachers, and acquaintances gave me. I slowly closed my eyes, resigning myself to the fate. That was when I heard the jingles of bells. I opened my eyes a little with every ounce of energy I had and came face to face with a weird creature sitting on top of me.

It has blue-green fur with white part surrounding it's face. The way it sat, it looked a lot like a cat with a smug smile. It's eyes were big and round, decorated by lush green orbs. It doesn't have whiskers though. It's tail was that of a fox, swinging lazily behind it. The ear was more like a wolf's and a golden ring encircled it's body. On it's neck was a red collar with white bell and on it's forehead was black crescent moon. "Chosen daughter of Eve," it spoke. I widened my eyes as much as I could, considering my weak condition. "I shall grant thee a wish. Choose wisely, young one, for it couldn't be taken back once you made the wish."

"Who…" I tried to ask but my voice was so hoarse and it pained my throat just to utter a word.

The creature widened it's eyes, if that was possible, and chuckled. "You are a strange one. No one ever cared about my identity before. They were blinded by my offer, yet you asked about my identity when you're in a pinch. When your life was in the line." It said with delight in it's voice. "Nevertheless, you should make your wish now or you won't have the chance to." It warned me with serious eyes.

My head was spinning madly now, and I couldn't keep a straight image of anything around me. "I… want… to live…"

The creature smiled smugly and the bell started to shake as light came from the golden ring. The jingling of bell came again and this time, it came with a blinding light. "You have made the wish. You shall prepare for the consequences." A voice told me as my body got lighter and lighter.

_Your life was unstable, I couldn't rescue you from death, but I could prolong your life. I will made a new container for your soul. As long as you keep it safe and never part with your body, you shall live a long life. There is a catch, however, your body won't grow older than twenty and as long as the new container didn't break, you won't die, no matter what happened to your body. In other words, this is immortality. Also, your body will shrink to those of seven years old. These are the consequences of your wish. You made the wish, you must bear the consequences. So long, chosen daughter of Eve. May we meet again. Oh, and before I forget, many called me Unmei._

* * *

General POV

Tenth october, it's the time for the fox festival, a festival where the Konoha residents celebrated for the Yondaime's victory over the Kyubi no Yoko. It was a good day, but not for a certain genin. This day was also his birthday, but it also meant more beatings than usual as his _present_ from the villagers. So here he was, sitting on a branch of a tree in the training ground. He had slept here the day before so he wouldn't meet the villager on his way to the training grounds.

Uzumaki Naruto is his name. He was waiting for the time of team's gathering at 8 A.M. but his sensei would be late as usual so there was no need to rush there. He leaned back when his stomach grumbled for the lack of food. "Damn, I ate all of my ramen cups as dinner yesterday. Now I've got nothing to eat. Maybe I could go to Ichiraku Ramen… Nah, the villagers would capture me that way. Hmm, guess there is no choice but to gather whatever food I can find in the forest outside the wall." He thought loudly before leaping down the branch and ran as fast as he could to the village wall.

He passed the guarding shinobi with ease and was finally inside the forest. He had lots of experience evading shinobis in his youth after all, so this kind of thing is a piece of cake for him. Once he was inside the forest, he leaped to the nearest branch and picked some fruit he found. He was about to eat when his acute hearing picked up coughing noise and he smelled blood. Nothing was good when blood is involved. He gathered his findings, hide it on the highest branch with some leaves, then left to search for the source of the blood.

After leaping through the branch for a while, he saw a person near the bushes. He stopped and tried to see who the person was but the leaves prevent him from doing so. With no choice, he jumped down a few branch where he could see clearer and hide his presence as much as he could.

The person was actually a girl. She had beautiful black-brown hair that reached her back tied to a ponytail. Her clothes were strange, but Naruto's attention was on the blood smeared on the girl's body. She had lots of scratches, bruises and cuts all over her body. Her head was bleeding and her breath was ragged. Bloods trickled down her slightly open mouth while she painfully shut her eyes.

Without thinking anymore, Naruto rushes to her side. He bent down and shook her slightly. The girl flinched from pain and her body was visibly shivering. "Hang in there, okay? I'll take you back to the village. They'll treat you. This will hurt, bear with it." He said as he flung one of her hand over his shoulder carefully then took her bridal style.

The girl opened her eyes slightly and Naruto saw a pair of warm chocolate brown eyes filled with pain and fear. "Who… *cough cough* are… you…?" the girl whispered.

Naruto looked at her for a moment then grinned widely. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto, 'ttebayo!" he said cheerfully. "I'm going to make sure that you're going to be okay, so just relax and let me handle things!"

The girl stared at Naruto's blue orbs for a moment before she opened her mouth again. "Can I… trust… you?" she asked with equally hoarse voice as before if not worser. Her eyes filled with hope as she looked at Naruto.

Again, Naruto gave her his biggest grin and said, "Of course!" The girl's eyes dimmed as a small smile graces her pale face. She closed her eyes and snuggled in his chest as a sign that she trust him. "Let's go!" Naruto said as he jumped to a branch and made his way back to the village. Of course, he took some ransom from the place where he left it before.

* * *

On the bridge, a boy and a girl was waiting for their sensei and teammate to come. The boy had dark blue-black hair. He had a metal plate that act as forehead protector attached to a blue cloth. The metal plate had a leaf-like insignia on it. He wore turtle neck black t-shirt with an uchiha emblem on his back and a matching black pants that reached his knees. He also wore knee protector and black combat boot. He was brooding while staring at the river.

Across him was the girl, silently watching the boy. She had short pink hair and jade green eyes. She also had the metal plate with leaf-like insignia, but she used it as a bandana instead of a forehead protector. She wore red clothes that reached her knees and tight black pants that reached her mid-thigh. She also had a combat boots but it was blue and not black like the boy.

Usually, the girl would be pestering the boy about having lunch together or inviting him for a date. Today, however, the boy emitted an aura that said 'don't come near me or I'll kill you'. Especially since her loud teammate and sensei weren't here, the atmosphere was very awkward. The boy didn't have any problem with it, but the girl did. Apparently, she was used to her teammate's loudness that she couldn't stand being there in silent.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, do you think Kakashi-sensei and Naruto-baka will be here soon?" the girl asked as she couldn't bear the awkward atmosphere anymore.

"Hn" came the reply.

"Oh," the girl said disappointingly. "Do you think we should train while waiting for them?" she asked again as she congratulate her brain for thinking something the boy would like to do.

This time, the boy, Uchiha Sasuke, took longer time before answering. "Very well," was all he said before heading to training ground.

Meanwhile, the girl, Haruno Sakura, was doing a victory pose for being able to make her beloved Sasuke do something together with her. _Chaa! One step closer to the goal! Good job, Sakura!_ Her inner thoughts congratulate her.

She quickly ran to her teammate as he started stretching. After some warm-up, they were about to spar when his sensei decided to come. "Yo!" he greeted his students as he suddenly pop out of nowhere.

"You're late!" came the usual reply from the pink haired girl. The man eye-smiled but quickly narrowed his eyes when the third member of the squad was not there.

"Where's Naruto?" he asked. Sakura shrugged her shoulder while Sasuke didn't answer the question. The man took an orange book from his pouch and his stance relaxed. "Well, continue your spar while I go look for him. If he still hasn't shown up when I'm gone and I can't find him anywhere, we'll take mission from lady hokage first before we searched for him." The man, Hatake Kakashi, said to his students.

Both Sasuke and Sakura nodded and he was gone with a puff of smoke. For some time, both youngster stared at the dissipating smoke in silent. "Where do you think that idiot is, Sasuke?" Sakura asked out of curiosity.

"Probably goofing off," answered Sasuke before turning his head to the pink haired girl and fell to a taijutsu stance. "Let's start," he said.

"Yes!" replied Sakura cheerfully as she too fell to a taijutsu stance.

* * *

It was harder to slip through the guards when you have an injured person with you. There's an extra weight and the smell of her blood. Thankfully, the guards were pretty light today, but it was still hard to slip through. It also took longer than usual to the point where it frustrate Naruto to no end since the girl in his arm definitely needed medical treatment immediately.

After some time, Naruto decided to change his destination to a place with lighter guard, namely his neighborhood. The place was poor and it was near neither the hospital nor the Hokage tower. He entered a deserted buildings, decent enough to have a bed, and lay her on the bed. The blood had dried and some of it was now on Naruto's jumpsuit. "Hey, are you awake?" he asked quietly.

The girl nodded slowly and cracked open her eyes a little. Now that Naruto got a closer look on the girl's eyes, he seemed to be attracted by the warm and welcoming brown orbs of her. "Wa...ter..." the girl whispered as she moved her eyes to look directly at Naruto.

Naruto nodded. "I'll take some water from a well, we also need to wash that dried blood off your body," he said before turning to leave. He believed no one would approach the building so he left with no hesitation. Meanwhile, the girl tried to move her body, but every attempt only gave her more pain. After some tries, she gave up and lay still.

As she stare at the gray ceiling full of dust and spiderweb, a silent tear made it's way down her face. "Mom... Dad... Lucy..." she whispered lowly as another tear slide down. "I'm sorry..." she cried.

She continued to murmur those three words over and over while sometimes apologizing as she cried. She was unaware of a pair of blue eyes that was watching her from outside the building. Naruto leaned at the wall as he let the girl had her privacy. After some time, the sobs subsided and Naruto decided that it was the best time for him to step in.

He walked slowly and loudly so the girl wouldn't be startled. The girl turned her head slightly then flinched visibly. Naruto raised the canteen in his hands with a smile that threaten to split his face. "Here you go! Don't drink too fast or you'll choke!" he said as he helped the girl to sit and gave the canteen to her. The girl nodded gratefully as she accepted the canteen.

She drank it in one go with Naruto's help since her body was still shivering and she couldn't control her movements very well yet. "Thank... you" said the girl with softer and smoother voice now that her throat wasn't dry. "Where... am I?" she asked as she glanced around.

"You're currently in Konoha." Naruto said as he took the canteen from the girl. "Let's wash this dried blood, shall we?" he continued as he pour some water to the girl's ankle and knees, the only part that wasn't covered by her pants. The girl bent down and scrub her skin by herself right after Naruto poured the water, indicating that she won't let Naruto touched her.

Naruto shrugged and thought that it would be easier for him like this. After her feet, it was her hand then her neck and face. When Naruto pour some water to her arms, an orb fell down. It was a beautiful icy blue orb in the shape of a heart and red strips on it. Naruto picked it up and inspect it as the girl's eye widen in horror. She snatched it quickly and hid it in her palms. "Don't... Never touch this!" she said.

Naruto was dumbstruck, but he quickly recovered. "Okay!" he cheerfully replied. After all, everyone had one or two precious things that they wanted to keep as a secret from everyone.

Meanwhile, the girl was staring at Naruto with frightened eyes. When she first saw the orb, she remembered about the mysterious voice she heard before waking up in the forest and met the blonde boy. She stole some side glances to the orb inside her palms. _Is this my soul now? So the mysterious voice was speaking the truth. This body is now soulless_...

"...Hey!" Naruto shouted and woke the girl up from her day dreaming. "Are you going to daydream all day or are you going to give me your arms so we can clean it?"

"O-oh, yes..." the girl stammered and gave her free hand to Naruto. They did the other parts as she held the orb close to her heart. Sometime Naruto would glance at the hand that hold the orb.

Now, the blood was only on their clothes. Though the dried blood on her skin hadn't completely disappeared, it was better than before. "Let's take you to Baa-chan so she could check you. Though it seems you're fine.." the blonde scratched his neck as he looked at the girl in front of her carefully.

The girl could sit up on her own without help anymore now. She could move her limbs a bit though she still couldn't properly control her movements just yet. She wore long-sleeved light green hoodie though her sleeves were ragged so they cut it to her shoulder length. Behind the hoodie was black short-sleeved t-shirt. Gray jeans covered her feet but the knee part was exposed and she was barefooted. Naruto was, however, concerned about the fact that a seven year-old girl was sustaining such injuries.

"Baa-chan?" the girl tilted her head in a cute way as she voiced her curiosity.

"Yeah! Baa-chan is a great medic! She could heal anything!" Naruto said with some proudness in his voice. After all, he brought her back to the village with Jiraiya.

"Really? Awesome!" the girl said with a smile on her face.

"That's right! And one day, I'm going to surpass her, believe it!" Naruto declared, giving her the nice guy pose.

He was expecting her to react like everyone did, but she only smiled sweetly at him and said, "I believe you"

His grin reduced to a smile as he offered a hand to the girl. "Shall we go?" he asked and the girl nodded as she accepted his hand. "Now that I think about it, I never know your name." Naruto mused.

The girl seemed to stop for a while before giving him a small smile. "Why don't onii-chan gave me one?" she said.

"Me?" Naruto pointed at himself with shocked expression and the girl nodded. "Alright, how about Hayashi Otome?"

"Then, nice to meet you, Naruto-niichan! My name is Hayashi Otome." the girl said as she was helped to stand by Naruto.

"Nice to meet you too, Otome-chan!" Naruto replied as he gave Otome his famous big grin.

"Naruto? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the bridge, you know." a voice said to Naruto, startling both Naruto and Otome. Naruto spun around and instictively put himself in front of Otome. Steps were heard in the empty buildings as a man with silver defying gravity hair appeared. He leaned on the wall as he read an orange book. His face was hidden by mask and you could only see one bored eye on his face as the other eye was behind the hitai-ae.(A/N I don't know the correct spelling, if anyone know please tell me)

"Kakashi-sensei!"

"Yo!"

* * *

Next Chapter : Mysterious Girl Part 2


	2. Chapter 1 : The Mysterious Girl Part 2

Previously :

_"Naruto? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the bridge, you know." a voice said to Naruto, startling both Naruto and Otome. Naruto spun around and instictively put himself in front of Otome. Steps were heard in the empty buildings as a man with silver defying gravity hair appeared. He leaned on the wall as he read an orange book. His face was hidden by mask and you could only see one bored eye on his face as the other eye was behind the hitai-ae._

_"Kakashi-sensei!"_

_"Yo!"_

* * *

Chapter Two : Mysterious Girl Part 2

A man with gravity defying silver hair leaned on the wall as he watched his student and a girl in front of him freaked out. He may looked relaxed, but in his stance he could go on defense or offense easily. Hatake Kakashi, The Copy Cat Ninja, truly lived to his title. "What are you doing here, sensei?" Naruto asked, still hasn't moved from in front of Otome.

"Maa.. I was looking for you. You made me worried for a second when you didn't show up for the team meeting. I was wondering what were you doing, but I never thought you'd be here" Kakashi explained. He eyed the girl behind Naruto carefully as the said girl was curled up in a ball the instant he showed himself. "Who is this?" he asked.

Naruto's stance relaxed and he moved from his defensive spot in front of Otome. "Hayashi Otome, I was about to bring her to Baa-chan! And sorry I wasn't able to show up in time for the meeting" Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head while grinning from ear to ear. "Ne, sensei, since you're here, can't you help me bring her to Baa-chan using that jutsu of yours that just go puff!" Naruto said excitedly.

Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow as he tilted his Icha Icha book a little. "Shunshin?"

"Yeah that!" replied Naruto as he immediately used puppy dog eyes no jutsu. "Pleeeasee.."

Kakashi stared at them for a moment before sighing and put his book back on his pouch. "Okay, but do you know where is Tsunade-sama now?" he asked as he walked towards the still fearful girl.

"She's probably sleeping in the office. Wanna bet on it?" Naruto grinned at his sensei.

"No" Kakashi flatly refused. "You've got incredible luck, so I trust you"

Naruto pouted as he folded his arm in front of his chest. "You're no fun!" he said.

Kakashi ignored the blonde boy as he closed in towards the girl. Otome still eyeing Kakashi with frightened eyes and once he was close, she immediately scurried away to Naruto's side as fast as he could. Kakashi once again raised his eyebrows as Otome grabbed Naruto's hand tightly with one hand and kept the other hand on her chest. "It seems she has been attached to you." Kakashi chuckled.

Naruto blushed as he pried Otome's hand off him. "W-well, I did save her." he stuttered. "Otome-chan, there's no need to be afraid. He's my teacher and although he's weird and perverted-"

"Hey!"

"He's also kind. That's why he's here to help bring you to Baa-chan." Naruto finished his explanation while ignoring Kakashi behind him.

Otome eyed Kakashi warily before she shifted her attention to the blonde boy in front of him. "You won't come?" she asked with sweet voice.

"I will, but sensei can bring you to her faster than me." Naruto said as he offered the girl a hand.

Otome looked at Naruto then at Kakashi and then to Naruto again. Her eyes still full of doubt when she looked at Kakashi - which hurt Kakashi - but it also showed that she trust Naruto's words when he looked at Naruto - which raised Kakashi's curiosity. "Okay," she took Naruto's hand and he helped her to walk. Kakashi put one hand on Otome's shoulder and the other on her back to help her stood straight. When Naruto was about to let go off her hand, she tightened it and stared right into Naruto's blue orbs. "Promise me you will come!"

"I promise, and I won't go back on my words! Believe it!" Kakashi sweatdropped as Naruto posed in the nice guy pose. On the contrary, Otome seemed relaxed and let go of Naruto's hand.

_Hmm, the girl seemed to trust Naruto a lot. Wonder where she came from, though_, Kakashi thought as he watched Naruto pat the younger girl's head and the girl didn't seemed bothered. In fact, she was enjoying it, smiling and all. "Let's go. And Naruto, fetch Sasuke and Sakura from the training ground and come to the Hokage tower. Ja ne!" Kakashi instructed before he shunshined to the Hokage Tower.

* * *

Tsunade was enjoying her sleep, er, nap, when a puff of smoke disturbed her. She groaned and lazily lifted her head to see Kakashi in front of her. He was holding his orange book as usual, he wasn't even looking at Tsunade. She stared at him as he raised his hand as his usual greetings. Tsunade straightened her position and rolled her shoulder. "You're quite early today for mission," she commented as she threw some scrolls into a box, shook it, and pushed it to Kakashi.

"This is..?" Kakashi shifted his book a little as he stared at the box.

Tsunade shrugged and leaned on her chair. "I'm not in the mood to pick missions for you. Shizune sorted this missions earlier, so you can pick whichever you want," she explained.

Kakashi sweatdropped at his Hokage's antics. "Uuh, no, actually, I'm not here for mission. Well, at least, until my team get here," Kakashi said as he pushed the box back to Tsunade.

"Then what do you want?" asked her as she closed her eyes, wanting to finish this quickly and got back to sleep before Shizune found out that she has slacked.

"Please check on her." she heard Kakashi said and she finally felt another presence in the office as the person moved. She opened one of her eyes and saw a girl stood beside Kakashi. She was in a horrible condition. Her clothes were strange and it was drenched in dried blood. Her long black hair reached her back and her skin was sickly pale. She held her hands on her chest, right on her heart, to be exact. Tsunade's eyes widen when she saw the girl and immediately stood.

"Shizune! Shizune!" she shouted for her pupil as she walked around her desk to the girl who flinched from Tsunade's shouts.

"You call for me, Tsunade-sama?" a voice asked as the door opened and a woman peered in. She had short black hair and wore black kimono.

"Yes! Fetch me some warm water and medicine. And get some new clothes for the girl!" Tsunade ordered her pupil, Katou Shizune. Shizune turned to see a girl near Kakashi and her eyes widen in horror. Without any further ado, she left to get the things her master wanted. "Lie her here." she pointed a long couch.

Immediately, Kakashi took the girl in his arms and lie her on the couch. The girl flinched at the sudden contact but her mouth kept a firm line and no words came out of it. She lay still, not moving at all, as Tsunade activated her shoushen and began examining the girl. Tsunade's face was changing from shocked to worried, to horror, then to disbelief. Kakashi, who was watching it all from the side, unconsciously also became concerned for the girl. "Is she okay?"

"Far from okay," Tsunade muttered.

"Tsunade-sama, here's the water and clothes. I also brought the first aid kit," Shizune came back with a basin of warm water and the first aid kit. Beside her was Tonton, the tracker pig, holding a set of new clothes on it's back.

"Give me the stethoscope!" Shizune put the basin on the table nearby and opened the first aid kit to take the stethoscope.

As Tsunade resumed her examination, Shizune crouched near the girl and stroke her long hair. "Hi, my name's Shizune. Sorry about this, you must be confused huh?" she tried to make a conversation, but the girl only stare at her. "Who's your name?" not one to give up, Shizune asked her.

The girl blinked at the question but didn't answer. For some reason, she was unwilling to talk. "Hayashi Otome," Kakashi answered in her stead. Shizune turned around to Kakashi and raised her eyebrow. "What? Naruto told me," he said.

"Naruto?" Tsunade put the stethoscope away as she stared at her shinobi.

"Yes, apparently Naruto saved her from who knows what. She seems attached to Naruto already," explained Kakashi.

"And where the hell is that brat now?" asked Tsunade as she stood and walked to a her chair. "Ah, Shizune, please take her to another room and change her clothes. I need some explanations from Kakashi now,so I'll leave the rest to you."

Shizune nodded and lift the girl. Strangely, she was lighter than any child her age and her skin felt cold on Shizune's skin. She took Otome away with Tonton in tow. Tsunade pointed at the chair in front of her desk and Kakashi sat on it. "How is it? Is the girl okay?" he asked immediately.

Tsunade sighed and turned her chair. "She got some cuts and bruises, but it's not fatal. There are some injuries near her head that worries me, but nothing life threatening. A minor concussion is the worst, though it won't hinder her much. She won't be able to control her movements properly for a few day is all," Tsunade explained.

Kakashi sighed full of relieve when he heard that. Somehow, it felt as if a big burden has been lifted from his shoulder. When he saw Tsunade's stern face, however, he immediately back on full alert. "There's more?"

Tsunade slowly nodded her head. "When I examined her for internal injury, I found out that she... her heart was not beating," she said grimly.

Kakashi's one eye widen in horror. "Not beating?!"

Tsunade shook her head. "It's not beating. Some of her organs also not working. Not even her lungs."

"But she is alive! She spoke, she moved, she's alive!" Kakashi nearly shouted at his Hokage. "It's impossible!"

When he realized what he did, Kakashi calmed himself and muttered a soft apology to Tsunade who choose to stay silent. After some awkward moments, Tsunade continued her explanation on Otome's condition. "Her chakra was also non-existent since her heart was not beating. Her blood circulation was fine, although it moves very slowly since the heart was not pumping it. Her digestive system was the only organs still functioning. Honestly, I don't know what could make her still alive."

Kakashi rubbed his temples and sighed. "What am I going to say to Naruto?"

As if on cue, the door opened with a loud bang and three person walked in. "Baa-chan!" greeted the spiky blonde haired one, Uzumaki Naruto. His other two teammates, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, were following him closely behind.

"How many times must I say it?! Do not call me old!" Tsunade screeched.

"But you're old!" countered Naruto. He looked around and his gaze stopped at Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, where's Otome-chan?"

"Eh.. oh, she is with Shizune." answered Kakashi. He hoped the blonde boy wouldn't ask for her condition. Thankfully, his other students decided to ask about 'Otome-chan' and spared Kakashi from the dreaded question.

"Who's Otome-chan?" asked the curious Sakura.

"Oh, Otome-chan is a nice girl. She is seven, I think," Naruto answered.

"I didn't ask if she's a nice girl. I asked who is she as in who is she to you? Or to simplify it again, what's your relationship?" said the pink haired kunoichi.

"Ah, I met Otome-chan this morning! She's my friend!" replied Naruto with a big grin. Tsunade and Kakashi shared a glance and a silent deal were formed between them. _Don't tell Naruto the truth until he is ready_.

Suddenly the door swung open again and this time it was Shizune, Otome, and Tonton. "Tsunade-sama, I've change her clothes," reported the black-haired beauty in black kimono to her master.

"Naruto-nii!" shouted Otome as she ran towards Naruto and hugged him, more like fell on him since she still couldn't properly control her limb's movement.

Her voice was sweet and innocent. Tsunade was truly surprised that Otome could talk. Sure, Kakashi said she could talk, and it's not like she didn't trust him, but to see it with her own eyes were something different. "Hey, Otome-chan! Wow, you look cuter after you got out of that bloody clothes!" Naruto praised the cute little girl in front of him.

Otome was out of his blood-splattered hoodie and t-shirt. She now wore simple white t-shirt under long-sleeved black vest that matched perfectly with white skirt that reached her knees and black ninja sandals. Her long dark hair was tied to a side ponytail and there was even some rose-shaped head ornament that held her bangs so her cute face could be seen.

"Is she Otome-chan?" asked Sakura who inched closer to the seven year-old girl in front of her teammate. "Oh, you're so cute. My name's Haruno Sakura, nice to meet you!"

Otome gripped Naruto's sleeve tighter as she eyed the pink haired kunoichi warily. _The same reaction she gave to me_, Kakashi thought as he raised from her seat. "Hokage-sama, I believe that this is the time I pick the mission from the mission box," he said, turning to the blonde woman who stared at the enigma known as Hayashi Otome. "Uh.. Hokage-sama?" called Kakashi.

"Oh, ah, yes. I believe so. Now, where was it.. Ah, here it is," she took a lone box near her and held it to Kakashi. "Wish you luck," she said as Kakashi dipped his hand in and took a random mission scroll. Kakashi gave her the scroll and she scanned the mission quickly. A smirk rose in her face as she read the scroll. _Haha, the boy will get his payment for calling me old! I'm not old, I'm just over fifty, that's all! Wait, did I just admit that I'm old? Ahh, whatever~_

"So, what's the mission?" Sasuke, who had been silent all this time, asked the smirking Hokage.

"Kakashi, good choice," Tsunade said as she laid the scroll and smiled at Kakashi. "Okay, brats, the mission your sensei took was a double job. You'll have to weed out our client's garden while babysitting their one-year old son. Here's the mission address. Now, get out of my office and start working!" she said as she handed a paper to Kakashi.

"WHAT?!"

"Kakashi-sensei, how could you pick that mission?!" Sakura screeched at her sensei.

"You're evil! Sadistic! I can't believe this! We deserved a higher rank mission!" Naruto shouted at Kakashi. "I'm so not going to let you pick our mission anymore!"

"Hn, for once, I agree with the dobe," said the ever-silent Sasuke.

"Yare yare, it seems today we'll be busy," Kakashi said, ignoring his students' complaint.

"Yeah right, you're going to just disappear and leave us to do all the work, aren't you, Kakashi-sensei?" accused Naruto. Kakashi eye smiled and gently countered his students' complaints. Tsunade and Shizune was both smirking as they watched the amusing bickering team in front of them.

"Now, now, hurry up on move your sorry ass to work. Time is money!" Tsunade clapped her hands to get her four shinobis attention as she shoo-ed them away.

Naruto grumbled and muttered something inaudible as he turned around to leave, but something held him in place. He glanced at his side and remembered that Otome was still there. "Oh yeah, Baa-chan, what about Otome-chan? I can't bring her with me to the mission," he said.

Tsunade looked at the girl for sometime before she looked at her pupil. "Shizune, can you please take care of Otome?"

"Yes ma'am!" Shizune cheerfully answered.

Tsunade turned around again to face the blonde knucklehead. "There, satisfied yet?" she asked.

Naruto nodded his head and then crouched low so he was on eye-level with Otome. He raised his hand and pat the girl on the head. "Otome-chan, I'm sorry but I have to go to do a mission. I can't bring you with me, so be obedient and wait for me here, okay?" he explained to the dark-haired girl who immediately looked at Naruto with a disappointed expression.

"You're going to go?" she asked as she grabbed Naruto's hand.

"Yeah, but I won't be long! I'll be back before you know it." assured Naruto.

Her eyes became watery as she tighten her grip to his hand. "No! Don't leave me! I don't want to be alone. Don't go..." she pleaded.

"Uh, um.. I..," Naruto frantically looked around and silently pleaded for help. He never had any experience in handling little kids other than Konohamaru. Tsunade sighed and gestured for Shizune to help the blonde boy. The black-haired beauty quickly got to the weeping girl's side and crouched beside Naruto. "Hey... Hey, now, don't cry. Cute girls like you are not supposed to cry," she cooed as she used her thumb to erase the tears on Otome's cheek. "Don't cry. If you cry, me and Naruto here will be sad too, right?"

She nudged Naruto and the blonde boy quickly nodded his head. "Yeah, tears don't suit you. Why don't you smile instead? I like your smiles better than this." Naruto said as Otome slowly stopped crying.

"Besides, Naruto is just going to work. He won't leave you alone, will you, Naruto?" Shizune asked as she turned around to Naruto.

Naruto immediately shook his head. "Of course not!" he answered resolutely.

"See, there's nothing to be afraid of. So be a good girl and wait for Naruto here with me, okay?" Shizune assured the girl.

Otome glanced at Naruto then at Shizune before her gaze rest at the group of team seven behind Naruto who was standing still like a statue. She stayed silent for a while before she raised her head and looked at Naruto's pair of blue orbs. "If I'm a good girl, will you come back?" she asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yes. I'll do my mission real quick and come back before you know it. I promise!" he said as he gave her a thumb up. "And I never go back on my words, believe it!"

Otome dried her tears then gave Naruto a matching grin. "I believe you!" she replied.

"That's a good girl!" Naruto said as he ruffled Otome's hair. "Ja ne!" he said and then turned around to leave with his team.

"Otome-chan's really cute! Where did you meet her?" Sakura squealed after they were out of the tower. "I wonder where she lived, I've never seen her around here," she wondered.

"Uh.. I met her in the woods..."

"Oh, no wonder.. wait, what?! In the woods?" Sakura's eyes widen as she turned to face her blonde teammate.

Naruto nodded as he scratched his cheek. Kakashi's hand fell on the blonde genin's shoulder and Naruto turned to his sensei. "You've got lots of explaining to do, Naruto. I hope you are prepared.." Naruto's face went pale as he heard his sensei's sadistic voice.

_What have I gotten myself into? _Naruto grimly thought.

* * *

Tsunade stamped a paperwork and sighed as she leaned back on her chair. She couldn't stop working until she's done now that Shizune would stay in the room until Naruto came back from his mission. She stole a glance on the dark-haired little girl sitting on the couch near her. Hayashi Otome was her name, or at least that's what she heard. The girl immediately went silent and her cheerful attitude gone the moment Naruto stepped out of tower. Sure, she still answered Shizune when she asked something but it would be a short yes or no and most of the time she would just tune her out.

"Ah!" Otome gasped as a blue orb fell from her hand and rolled towards Tsunade. She got up and chased after it, but another hand took the orb from the floor. Otome lifted her head and saw her soul-containing orb was in the blonde woman's hand. "Give it back! Give it back!" she shouted as she jumped around Tsunade and tried to take back her orb.

It was amusing to see the girl jumped around her. Tsunade snickered_. _"I'll give it back... if you answer me."_  
_

Otome stopped jumping around and glared at Tsunade. "Meanie!" she shouted as she pointed her finger to Tsunade.

Tsunade clicked her tongue and flicked her fingers on Otome's forehead, much like what she once did to Naruto. "Brat! Haven't your parents ever tell you that pointing fingers at people is rude?" she said.

Otome covered the place on her head where she was flicked with her hands as her eyes became teary. "Mom... Dad... They...," she started to shake before falling to the floor and bawled.

Tsunade's face turned to a panicked one as she crouched low and started to pat Otome's head. "Ssh.. don't- don't cry! Here, I'll give it back. Just stop crying, kay?"

Shizune also came and both women tried to calm the girl. However, no matter what they said, Otome wouldn't stop crying. "Mom.. Dad.. Lucy... I-I'm sorry... Why... Why'd you leave me..? Don't.. leave me... You can't..!" she cried over and over. She didn't even squirm when Shizune took Otome into her arm and tried to sooth her by singing her a song.

After a while, she finally fell asleep, tired from crying. Shizune gently lied her down on the couch and push a lock of her stray dark hair on her face away. "What had happened that made her cry like this?" wondered Shizune.

"From what she said, it's safe to assume that her family has died and she is blaming herself for whatever happened." Tsunade commented. "We need to talk with Naruto about where he found her. Maybe then we can track where he came from, what happened and hopefully, the fate of her family."

Shizune stroke Otome's dark hair lovingly as she stared at Otome's peaceful face. "I really do hope her family is fine. I mean, it's not right for a little girl like her to blame herself over her parent's death. It's just.. not right," she muttered.

"Me too." Tsunade sighed. "But I won't have my hopes up too high 'cause it will hurt too much when it come crashing down."

* * *

It was past five o'clock when Team Kakashi had finally finished their mission and came to report. They looked awfully tired and needed bath, except for Kakashi who somehow managed to be the most clean out of the four and didn't look exhausted at all, it made Tsunade wonder just how bad the mission was for this team. "I swear when you get us this kind of mission again, sensei..." Sakura muttered threateningly.

"Ma.. it was pure luck, Sakura." Kakashi replied as he opened his orange book. "You can do nothing if your luck say that you'll get this kind of mission again."

"Then I'm blaming your fucking bad luck, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto pointed his finger at his sensei as he glared.

Sasuke sighed. "Stop reading that, will you.. and Naruto, stop shouting. I'm getting a headache," he said as he rubbed his temple.

Tsunade smiled, amused by this teams antics. She clapped her hands to get their attention and it worked effectively. "Kakashi, I expect the mission report tomorrow. Give it to Shizune, as always. If you have no other questions and reports, you're dismissed." she commanded before looking at the blonde genin. "Except you, Naruto. I want to have some words with you."

Naruto, who was about to leave the room, groaned and begrudgingly turned around as his teammates walked pass him. "Tomorrow, the usual time, the usual place." Kakashi said as he shunshined away.

Tsunade stamped some files then stood up, took her green haori and wore them before walking to the door. She stopped as she sensed the blonde staring at her, confused. "What? Are you not coming?" she turned her head slightly to see Naruto looked at her strangely before following her out of the door and to Shizune's apartment. "Shizune brought Otome to her apartment after she fell asleep." Tsunade explained as they walked to her pupil's apartment. "Don't tell me you forgot about her?"

Naruto scratches his neck as he looked away. "Eheheh.. Um, kinda,"

"You're hopeless." Tsunade sighed.

"Not my fault. I was so tired from the mission. You don't know just how loud that kid was when she cried. And the wild grasses in the garden were so hard to pull. I was so glad that hell finally ended and all I wanted was rest!" Naruto whined.

Tsunade secretly smiled since she got her indirect revenge on Naruto for calling her old. She wasn't old. Definitely not. They walked side to side as Tsunade listened to Naruto's rant. Sometimes giving him a sarcastic comment, sometimes she just smiled, and sometimes they laughed together. Minutes flew by and they finally arrived at Shizune's apartment. Tsunade knocked three times before pushing the bell, it was the code they agreed upon to avoid Tsunade's debt collector.

"Coming.." Shizune's voice could be heard as light footsteps neared the door. "Tsunade-sama, Naruto-kun, come in," she opened the door wide to let both of them come in.

"How's she?" asked Tsunade as she plopped down on the soft light green couch that decorated the living room.

"Fine. She woke some time ago but she still refused to open herself." replied Shizune as walked to the kitchen. "Tea?"

"Sake~" whined Tsunade.

"No! You are still behind the schedule, Tsunade-sama. I need you to finish the paperwork today, so no drinking!" Shizune sternly denied as she brewed two cups of tea and a glass of juice for Naruto. Tsunade pouted as Naruto laughed beside her. "I'll go get Otome," Shizune said as she served the drinks and left to call the girl.

Soon, Otome came with tired eyes and she had discarded her vest and changed her skirt to a baggy pants that reached her ankles. "Naruto-nii?" she rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"Yo, Otome!" Naruto greeted her with a wide grin.

She walked slowly and carefully so she won't tripped over nothing and made a fool out of herself. Eventually, she sat on a single couch beside Naruto and leaned on the armchair. Shizune also came and sat on the opposite side of Naruto and Tsunade. "Right, now that everyone is here, I want to arranged things for Otome. I've registered her as a civilian of Konoha. And she will live with me and Shizune, will that be okay, Otome?" Tsunade turned at the said girl.

Otome stayed silent as she eyed Shizune and Tsunade before slowly nodding. "Now, Naruto, I want you to tell me how you met her," this time, Tsunade turned to Naruto and gave him the most attention. Shizune shifted in her seat to make herself more comfortable and leaned in to listen to Naruto's story.

Naruto sighed and muttered something inaudible about "repeating" and "bad luck". He then started his story when he left the gates of Konoha, of course he twisted the story in some parts. Like when he said it was for pure entertainment that he slip past the guards and ventured the woods around the gates only when the fact was that he was searching for food since he would be caught by the villagers if he went to the market area. He told Tsunade and Shizune about how he met her and took care of her wound in the deserted part of Konoha. "Then Kakashi-sensei came and I asked him to get her to you, baa-chan. I'm sure you know what's next," he ended the story.

Tsunade and Shizune shared a glance and SHizune nodded in understanding. Tsunade wanted to send a team and tracked it down and report whatever happened. In the mean time, she also wanted to try and searched for her identities. Who knows, there might some information about this young mysterious girl somewhere. "Okay, with this, everything's settled." Tsunade concluded.

"Alright! Finally some rest!" Naruto stretched his limbs and planned to go back to his apartment. Though the soft fluffy light green couch was holding him back so much that it made him wanted to just collapsed there and gave no shit about what happened outside for some time.

Apparently, Shizune understood it. "Why don't you rest here today, Naruto-kun? We've got spare rooms, y'know."

"Really? Can I?" Naruto perked up at the offer.

Shizune chuckled. "Of course"

"Yay!" the blonde genin cheered as Shizune offered to show him the room while accompanying Otome back to her room.

Tsunade sighed as she leaned back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. "No clue, huh? This is frustating!" she rubbed her temple as if to make her point. "Is it a good choice or actually a bad choice? Hmm, I should dispatch some ANBU with her. Then again, her seemingly immortal body really intrigued me greatly." she muttered to herself. "Hah... more paperwork to be done. I really wondereed how Hiruzen-sensei managed to become a hokage for so long but he still kept his insanity?!"

* * *

**A/N : Sorry if this late, but to make things clear, I took the time after Sasuke Retrieval Arc. In this story, Naruto managed to convince Sasuke to come back and that there are many powerful people in Konoha that could probably rivaled Orochimaru.**

**This idea of story just popped out of nowhere, and I wasn't thinking very clear about the time in the story when I published it.**


End file.
